“We need a European Health Union to better fight against cross-border health threats like Covid-19,” stated Peter Liese, medical doctor and health spokesperson of the biggest political group in the European Parliament EPP (Christian Democrats) in light of the presentation of the so-called “lessons learned package” that will be presented by the European Commission on Wednesday. Liese raised the expectation that the Health Union, that has been asked for by his group (https://www.eppgroup.eu/newsroom/publications/epp-group-position-paper-on-a-european-union-for-health) and the European Parliament in July (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2020-0205_EN.pdf, will be supported by the European Commission and also by the Council of Ministers. “The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that Europe was not prepared against this kind of health threat and those who have always argued in the past that health should remain a purely national issue have been proven wrong”, says Liese.
The Commission will make three legislative proposals:
First, they will propose a regulation on cross-border health threats replacing the existing directive. “Already back in 2013, the European Parliament asked to draw the right lessons from threats that occurred at that time. It is now high time to act! Among others, we need the opportunity to declare an EU emergency situation. In the Covid-19 pandemic, we depended too much on the WHO. While I strongly value the work of WHO and I am very happy that the president-elect of the United States Joe Biden will probably revoke the decision of Donald Trump to leave this important institution, one cannot argue that the WHO did not made mistakes. I think they declared the public health emergency too late under the pressure of China, which is why it would be very important to have the possibility to act at a European level in future, similar situations”, says Liese.
The environmental spokesperson of the biggest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats) Peter Liese welcomes the partial agreement of the Environment Council for the climate law. “It is very important that our climate targets are based on legislation in the future and not only decided by the Council alone. While I still think that the Parliament’s position of a 60% climate target for 2030 is over-ambitious and endangers jobs, it is important to have this climate law. I am very optimistic that the Council will agree on the Commission proposal of net 55% or something close to this figure. We need to do more to achieve climate neutrality and to avoid that our children and grandchildren live in a world where they cannot control climate change anymore. I also defend the position of the European Parliament that all member states must be climate neutral by 2050. This is something where the Parliament will definitely fight hard for”, says Peter Liese.
Read more: Environmental Ministers reach partial agreement on climate law
The health spokesperson for the biggest group in European parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats), Dr med. Peter Liese calls the results of the third phase of the clinical trial for a corona vaccine a that has been produced by Biontech in collaboration with Pfizer “huge success for European research policy”. Biontech and Pfizer announced on Monday that, according to their analysis, 90% of test persons who received the vaccine are protected against Covid-19. They tested a total of 43,538 subjects whereas 94 cases were confirmed Covid-19 positive.
“The study is a double-blind study and it was only in the last few days that the study leaders were aware themselves who received a placebo and who received the vaccine. Significantly more Covid-19 cases emerged in the placebo group compared to the group of those who received the vaccine. That's a very good result. Of course, the data still has to be checked by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and they will do so shortly. A team of experts at the EMA is already prepared and ready to act and the first parts of the data from phases 1 and 2 have already been evaluated. A vaccine needs to be available in Europe as soon as possible, but we insist on a safe vaccine,” said Liese. If the announcements can be confirmed, it will be a huge success for European research and innovation policy. The Biontech project is financed, among others, by the European research program Horizon 2020, supported by the financial instrument InnovFin and by the European fund for strategic investments. In addition, Biontech received money from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research", said Liese.
The European Parliament voted with a narrow majority to increase the climate target for the European Union to 60%. With this vote, the MEPs are even more ambitious than the European Commission, which suggested a target of net 55%. The environmental spokesperson of the biggest parliamentary group (EPP, Christian Democrats) Dr Peter Liese expects that the Council will help to bring the target back to the original Commission proposal.
“I regret that the majority in the Parliament did not support the European Commission’s proposal but voted for the 60% without the possibility to include sinks like sustainably managed forest in the calculation. Nobody clearly explained how the 60% could be achieved and proponents like the Chair of the environmental committee in the European Parliament, Pascal Canfin, openly admitted that it is mainly for tactical reasons. I think that the issue is too important for tactics and we should vote for what we think is realistic. The 55% proposal is the most ambitious plan for any major economy. It will require enormous changes not only from industry but also from each individual citizen. We have to change how we travel, how we heat our houses, and personally, I am convinced we also need to change the way we eat. Going to 60% would definitely be a too high burden”, says Liese. The final vote on the climate law will take place Wednesday afternoon.